Sentient Planet
Storytelling Podcasts
Sentient Planet showcases the animals with whom we share the Earth and the humans dedicated to their urgent defense and preservation. Join host-creator Susan Woodward to explore species and examine the concept of sentience and what it means for our collective future. Guest interviews and long-form stories from the field are included every season. And we always provide campaign actions you can contribute towards a more just and harmonious planet for all living beings in this time of climate crisis and mass consumption. Brought to you from the traditional land of the Nisqually Tribe in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, a hotbed of environmental consciousness. Your ratings, reviews and Patreon donations propel our message to more listeners worldwide.
Location:
United States
Genres:
Storytelling Podcasts
Description:
Sentient Planet showcases the animals with whom we share the Earth and the humans dedicated to their urgent defense and preservation. Join host-creator Susan Woodward to explore species and examine the concept of sentience and what it means for our collective future. Guest interviews and long-form stories from the field are included every season. And we always provide campaign actions you can contribute towards a more just and harmonious planet for all living beings in this time of climate crisis and mass consumption. Brought to you from the traditional land of the Nisqually Tribe in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, a hotbed of environmental consciousness. Your ratings, reviews and Patreon donations propel our message to more listeners worldwide.
Language:
English
Contact:
3604814872
Episodes
S3 Kangaroo Massacres: Australia's Dirty Secret
2/10/2022
Guests Kate McIntyre Clere and Mick McIntyre come on the show to discuss a difficult topic – the commercial killing of wild kangaroos and their joeys.
Kate and Mick are an Aussie filmmaking duo with Second Nature Films. Back in 2018, they released a shocking and damning expose about Australia's secretive kangaroo killings – the largest land slaughter of wildlife that happens anywhere on the planet.
In this interview, they talk about progress being made to end this inhumane industry since...
Duration:00:48:37
S3 Giving Haven to Animals Most in Need
2/3/2022
If you've ever thought about rescuing and providing sanctuary to an animal in need, this episode is for you!
Guests Kate Tsyrklevich and Hope Hilman run Heartwood Haven, a popular microsanctuary for farmed animals in Gig Harbor, Washington, USA. Pigs and roosters are their preferred rescues. Many of the hundreds they've saved come from appalling conditions, including cockfighting busts. Unfortunately, the cruel and illicit multi-billion-dollar cockfighting industry operates underground in...
Duration:00:45:26
S3 The Land Stand of the Mountain Caribou with David Moskowitz
1/20/2022
In British Columbia, Canada, an elusive animal has been adapting to co-exist with the world's largest remaining inland temperate rainforest since the last ice age. They're the gentle and beautiful mountain caribou, and our guest this week is perhaps their loudest defender.
David Moskowitz, renowned nature photographer, wildlife biologist and tracker, introduces us to the highly endangered mountain caribou, whose herds have plummeted to just 1,100 individuals due to the ongoing logging of...
Duration:00:42:32
S3 A New Global Vision for Whales and Dolphins with Sue Fisher
1/13/2022
From grassroots to policy, we want to follow up on last week's popular podcast by introducing listeners to another amazing ambassador for the oceans – Sue Fisher, of Portland, Oregon.
Sue is interim marine policy director (international) for the Animal Welfare Institute. She's been advocating for greater protections for cetaceans through the International Whaling Commission (IWC) for the past 30 years, and she is one of the main authors of a brand new 50-year vision for the IWC. As the...
Duration:00:47:40
S3 Ocean Love and Activism with Peggy Oki
1/6/2022
Environmental artist, activist and teacher. Free-spirited surfer and voice for her beloved whales and dolphins, whom she's dubbed The Cetacean Nation. Oh, and skateboarding sensation on the famous Zephr ("Z-Boys") competition team from the mid-1970s in California. She's the one and only Peggy Oki, and we're thrilled to have her on the show in this exclusive interview.
Peggy talks about her recent encounters with sperm whales in the Caribbean. She updates us on her dogged campaigning on...
Duration:01:01:08
S3 Ratifying Animal Sentience with Claire Bass
12/30/2021
In November 2021, the United Kingdom recognized crabs, lobsters, octopus and other decapod crustaceans and cephalopod invertebrates as sentient beings. The animals were added to the UK's new Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which will protect them for the first time when the bill becomes law in early 2022.
Expanding our awareness to more species is cause for hope and celebration, says Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International – UK. The Humane Society and other animal...
Duration:00:52:27
S3 The Weight of Empathy with Lucas Spiegel
12/13/2021
We're so happy to release the first episode of Sentient Planet – Season 3!
Today’s guest is the vegan writer, photographer and lover of all creatures – Lucas Spiegel. Lucas quit his job as an architect in North America to spend nearly two years traveling the world, working on animal sanctuaries as he explored cultures and what it would take to live a truly ethical life. One result is his recently published travel memoir, The Weight of Empathy. The book is a beautifully illustrated,...
Duration:00:45:31
S2 What is Sentience with Roshi Susan Murphy
9/16/2021
What is sentience? If we're to ask the question directly, perhaps a good place to seek an answer is with a great teacher.
This week, it's our honor to welcome and share the Earth wisdom of the joyful Dr. Susan Murphy. Susan is a Roshi, a learned teacher in the tradition of Zen Buddhism. She is the founding and resident teacher of the Zen Open Circle in Sydney, Australia. And, as a writer, radio producer and film director, she’s considered one of the most important global voices in the...
Duration:00:53:50
S2 For the Love of Moon Bears with Jill Robinson
9/9/2021
Jill Robinson first encountered a captive Moon Bear in 1993. The experience, which she recounts in our interview, changed her life. It also sparked the beginning of the end of the horrific bear bile industry.
Moon Bears are Asian Black Bears. They are called Moon Bears in reference to the trademark white fur crescent that appears across their necks. In multiple countries across Asia, tens of thousands of Moon Bears (and some other species) are held captive in tiny cages for decades and...
Duration:00:47:55
S2 An Icon for Our Sentient Planet with Mark Stoop
9/2/2021
What a treat to introduce the Dutch nature photographer and our far-flung team member, Mark Stoop.
Mark lives in Singapore, where he works as a marketing director and indulges his passion for photographing the biodiverse animals who live around him. Birds and reptiles hold a special place in Mark's heart. Indeed, it was his beautiful photo of a curious Green Crested Lizard that drew us to him. The image has been viewed more than a million times, and that personable little lizard with the...
Duration:00:40:40
S2 Bonus Episode: "The Face" with Dany Celermajer
8/26/2021
This bonus episode, exclusive to Sentient Planet listeners, accompanies our Season 2 episode, "Living Through Fire with Danielle Celermajer."
Dany reads "The Face," a short chapter from Summertime: Reflections on a Vanishing Future (Penguin Books Australia 2021). Her brave and unflinching account of animal sentience beseeches us to wake up and face up to the climate crisis and the torture and death it is already wreaking upon the Earth’s multitude of lifeforms.
We dedicate this reading to...
Duration:00:10:18
S2 Living Through Fire with Danielle Celermajer
8/26/2021
This week's guest is the profound Australian author, Professor Danielle Celermajer. Dany is a philosopher, the director of the Multispecies Justice Project at the University of Sydney, and the author of Summertime: Reflections on a Vanishing Future (Penguin Books Australia 2021).
Dany started writing Summertime in situ during the peak of the Black Summer Climate Fires that decimated Australia in 2019-20. Through her book, she attempts to honor the voices and emotions of the wild and...
Duration:00:55:07
S2 Communicating Animal Sentience with Carl Safina
8/19/2021
On the topic of non-human animal sentience, Carl Safina is one of the most experienced observers and gifted communicators in the world.
The renowned ecologist turned bestselling author has penned 10 books about our human relationship to nature and her myriad species. For example, in Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace (Macmillion 2020), Carl offers a form of deep Earth journalism that brings readers up close to the rituals and activities of...
Duration:00:56:41
S2 Bonus Episode: A Prayer for All Beings with Jo McArthur
8/12/2021
This bonus episode, exclusive to Sentient Planet listeners, accompanies our Season 2 episode "The Long Road to Liberation with Jo-Anne McArthur."
Jo talks about the award-winning photo collection, "HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene," and she reads a short and ancient Buddhist prayer for the liberation of all animals, including we humans.
Photo courtesy Lisa MacIntosh/We Animals Media.
Duration:00:04:27
S2 The Long Road to Liberation with Jo-Anne McArthur
8/12/2021
We're honored to launch Season 2 with this guest, the acclaimed animal photojournalist, author, humane educator and founder of We Animals Media, Jo-Anne McArthur.
Perhaps no human has done more to bring the suffering of our animal kin into the light. For more than 20 years, across more than 60 countries, Jo has documented the truth of what happens to billions of animals in some of the darkest places on the planet.
In this wide-ranging conversation, she describes We Animals' unfailing focus...
Duration:00:59:09
Rivers Are Life with Amy Souers Kober
6/3/2021
In our last episode for Season 1, Amy Souers Kober, of American Rivers, talks about the rising global movement to restore free-flowing river ecosystems, upon which so much sentient life depends.
We discuss the benefits of removing the thousands of dams that still crisscross North America. Right now, there is a groundswell of support to breach four dams on the lower Snake River to save salmon and the Southern Resident Orca from extinction. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity, Amy says,...
Duration:00:33:53
Koala Crusader with Cate Faehrmann
5/26/2021
How are koalas faring after the great climate fires that bore down on Australia in 2019-20? One of the best people to ask is Cate Faehrmann, Member of Parliament for the New South Wales Greens Party.
Also an environmental activist, Cate chaired a recent parliamentary inquiry into the status of koalas in New South Wales, where the population is quickly dwindling. In this episode, we get down to business to discuss exactly what the inquiry found and the failings of government to protect this...
Duration:00:23:48
The Custodians of Creation with Tyson Yunkaporta
5/20/2021
This week, we switch hemispheres and head Down Under for an out-of-the-ordinary conversation with the Australian indigenous writer, academic and traditional wood carver Tyson Yunkaporta.
Tyson reflects on the dominant global order behind our current crises and the havoc it's wreaking upon animals and all life. We're caught up in an unstoppable race, he argues. Will man-made economic systems or the planet's natural ones collapse first? And can we humans recover our rightful role as...
Duration:04:01:03
Bonus Episode: Researcher Ken Balcomb Talks Orca
5/20/2021
For those who can't get enough of "podfather" Ken Balcomb – and those new to his lifetime of dedication to the Southern Resident Orca (SRO) – here's the additional interview we promised.
Listen to Ken describe the staggering natural beauty that drew him to North America's Pacific Northwest, his first orca sighting 45 years ago, and what it's been like to encounter and document these amazing yet highly threatened sentient beings.
Ken also shares his thoughts on the continuing threats to the...
Duration:02:23:54
Mapping the Salish Sea with Stefan Freelan
5/13/2021
This week, we step back from the Southern Resident Orca to discover more about their watery home through the eyes of a mapmaker.
Stefan Freelan is the cartographer from Western Washington University who created the Salish Sea & Surrounding Basin map, aiding a decades-long campaign to bring an official name (and purpose) to an entire ecosystem.
To download a free copy of his beautiful (two-sided!) Salish Sea map, visit Stefan's website here.
Call to Action: If you haven't already, please...
Duration:00:22:33